What will get you warned or banned

Recommended Posts

Altostrata

Altostrata

This is a support site. When you registered on this site, you agreed to our Rules and guidelines. These are in place to foster a safe, healthy online community.

While other forum sites may permit some aggressive behaviors, we do not. Our members are already experiencing an unfortunate amount of stress.

We understand you may be angry, anxious, or dwelling on self-harm due to your own condition. We'll give you some latitude and pointers about your behavior in personal messages. But if you cross the line 4 times, you will be banned from the site.

Moderators may ask you to reword, or they may remove offending posts or topics.

The warning system
This site is equipped with a warning system for use by the moderators. (In your Profile area, you can see your warning points. Only you and the mods can see this.)

The mods may or may not give you a verbal warning first without a warning point. If you go ahead and do the thing you've been warned about, you'll get a warning point, up to 4 warning points.

If you get 4 warning points, you will be banned automatically.

What will get you warned
Here are a few things that may get you warnings:

- Arguing with a moderator or the administrator in a topic or in a PM. You may present your case reasonably; take care about your tone. Once you get a decision, accept it gracefully. Mistakes may be made, give us the benefit of the doubt, we're trying to keep the peace for the greater good. (It is never a good idea to get on the wrong side of an administrator or moderator.)

We also take a dim view of Internet lawyers who use "free speech" defense when warned by staff. On any Web site, you publish with the consent of the site owner. The site owner can withhold this consent for any reason. If you want to say whatever you wish, start your own site. Please do not waste your time and that of the staff by presenting this invalid argument.

- Attacking another member in a topic. Disagreements must be civil. No ad hominems -- per Wikipedia: "... an attempt to link the truth of a claim to a negative characteristic or belief of the person advocating it...." See more about Abusive ad hominem.

If you argue with or attack an administrator or moderator, or attack another member, your posts may be put on indefinite review. They will need approval by an admin or mod before they are published.

- Harassing or stalking another member.

- Recruiting your friends to gang up on a member. This is also known as a pile-on.

- Racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, or other hate speech.

- Asking for support for many self-generated emergencies. While we are sympathetic to people in distress, we're only a peer support site and we cannot do anything for people who are in the habit of self-harming in any way, be it via alcohol, risky or antisocial behavior, avoidable hospitalizations, irresponsible use of drugs, avoidable accidents, fights, or threats of suicide.

We have seen that going on and off additional psychiatric drugs can worsen adverse effects, including withdrawal symptoms. If you add drugs and have an adverse effect, you will need to discuss it with the prescribing doctor -- we won't be able to help you. (If you feel you need continued drug treatment, your needs may be better met on forums such as depressionforums.org or patientslikeme.com.)

If you find you are somehow involved in frequent emergencies, please seek face-to-face counseling. As emergencies can be upsetting to other members of the community, if you frequently report emergencies that you might have avoided, you will be asked to leave -- your needs are beyond the capabilities of online peer support.

(If your life is currently chaotic, this would be a very bad time to go off psychiatric drugs. Withdrawal symptoms may very well add to the complications in your life. Not being able to focus on careful tapering can be dangerous.)

- Being uncooperative, specifically, not keeping notes and reporting your symptom pattern when requested to do so.

Keeping daily notes of your symptoms, when you take your drugs, and their dosages is quite simple. In many situations, particularly when you're taking multiple drugs, we need this information to tell if a drug is causing an adverse reaction or if an adjustment is working.

If, after requested, you avoid doing this, we can't help you. If you persist in withholding this essential information, you may receive more than one warning point, up to being banned from the site (4 warning points).

- Taking over someone's Introductions topic to make it about your concerns

To get support from staff here, we ask each member to open an Introductions topic to discuss their specific situation. They owner of the Introductions topic is encouraged to post questions there, get answers and support from staff and other members, and look back on the Intro topic as a record of their progress. It is like an ongoing, first-person case history.

It's one thing to emphathize with any member here and share your experiences and opinions, but it's another thing to take over someone's Intro topic and make it All About You. This is selfish and disrespectful to the owner of the topic. It also can obscure the owner's need for information and support.

If you do this persistently, you may earn a warning point. Post about your concerns in your own Introductions topic.

- Using all capital letters in posts.
On the Internet, the use of ALL CAPITALS to communicate is interpreted as shouting. Posts entirely in capital letters irritate the moderators and will not get you extraordinary attention, if that is your purpose.

Moderators will hide posts that are entirely in all caps. If you persist in using all caps, you may get warnings. Upon the 4th warning, you will be banned.

Please keep this a civil community. Use your inside voice instead of all caps.

- Aggressively advocating religious practices
Our members come from all over the world, of all faiths, religions, and age groups. We support the private pursuit of religious or spiritual support, but caution members against promoting a particular religious practice in contexts where this might offend others.

The Finding Meaning forum is the appropriate venue for expressions of personal religious beliefs. Rather than proselytizing throughout the site, you may be asked to maintain one topic in the Finding Meaning forum where you can answer questions about your faith.

- Offering psychiatric or psychotherapeutic care without a publicly displayed license. If you are a licensed physician, therapist, or social worker and want to risk your license to offer such services gratis here, you must post your license number in your signature. You will need to take sole responsibility for what you post as advice. SurvivingAntidepressants.org will not take responsibility for your advice and will not assist you should you meet legal challenges.

- Drug shopping or recommending drugs
This is a site for going off drugs. It is not a site for finding out what drug to take next, comparing drug cocktails, or recommending what drug to add. This could be dangerous. People could be hurt by your advice.

We do not advocate experimenting with hallucinogenics, psychedelic mushrooms, herbs, adaptogenics, or any gray-market drug. You never know exactly what you're getting and results are unpredictable even in people whose nervous systems have not been compromised by adverse drug reactions.

If your nervous system has been sensitized by adverse effects from psychiatric drugs (or street drugs) or withdrawal, , you could make yourself a lot worse by experimenting with hallucinogenics, etc., and the only remedy is to cope with your symptoms until they go away. We don't have any magic potions for you.

Try such substances at your own risk. If you take street drugs or gray-market drugs and have an adverse reaction, we may not be able to provide you support as you recover and may ask you to leave SurvivingAntidepressants.org.

(We do not know of any drugs or drug combination that will fix withdrawal syndrome. Reinstatement of the original drug, often at a low dose, sometimes helps and sometimes does not.)

For the safety of our members, we cannot permit people to give irresponsible drug advice on this site. If you get a warning for this, please take it to heart.

If you feel you must tell a member to seek help from a physician, please specify the physician. Most likely, the member has joined this site because of lack of success finding a knowledgeable doctor.

If you believe taking psychiatric drugs will help a particular member, please specify drug and dosage. Take responsibility for your advice.

If you cannot do this, don't tell people to take more drugs. They don't know what to take and neither do their doctors. I and the staff here on SurvivingAntidepressants.org don't know, either.

- Insisting on nonsense about the causes of so-called psychiatric disorders and withdrawal syndrome. You'll need to do a lot of reading and credible citations to come up with original plausible theories.

Red flags for nonsense often found in pop psychiatry:

Reliance on the "chemical imbalance" theory or that mental disorders are due to some kind of neurotransmitter deficiency.

Assigning specific functions to specific neurotransmitters ("dopamine is responsible for pleasure"). All neurotransmitters are multifunction; normal functioning depends on their all operating together.

Making sweeping generalizations about "depression." One huge problem in psychiatry research is that there is no one definition of "depression" and studies use different measures for it.

Publication in biological psychiatry journals.

More to come, I'm sure.

The "chemical imbalance" or "serotonin deficiency" theories for mood disorders, which were in vogue for about 20 years, have been disavowed by medicine. There never was any basis for this. If a doctor tells you that is the reason for your distress, the doctor is wrong, misinformed, or not being straightforward with you.

This is also true of alternative or "natural" practitioners. The "chemical imbalance" theory is invalid wherever it pops up.

The "chemical imbalance" theory or its variants does not bear discussing any more than does a theory that says the sun revolves around the earth. It is a waste of time. This site will not add to the dissemination of this misinformation. Expect credulous discussion of such to be discouraged on this site.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Altostrata

Altostrata

What will get you banned right away- Spamming the site with commercial messages or posts in which you are promoting something that brings profit to you. (You may mention your site, blog, or book in your signature.)

- Attacking a moderator or administrator in a topic, including rudeness, sarcasm, and talking back. This undermines the community and will not be tolerated. This site cannot be all things to all members. You'll have to trust the staff's decisions.

If you disagree with a member of the staff, the appropriate action is to open a polite dialog in a personal message. Haranguing or grandstanding about a staff decision in public is uncivil, disrespectful, and will not be tolerated.

- Aggressively promoting or defending psychiatry, or ridiculing the concept of withdrawal syndrome. This upsets the members, who have experienced injury from psychiatrists and psychiatric medications.

- Having multiple identities, playing manipulative games, and not being a candid, sincere contributor to the community. This also applies to trolls. If anyone thinks another member is a troll, please pm me or let me know in e-mail.

- Registering with a phony e-mail. The admin gets the bounce messages. You can't get away with this.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Altostrataupdated

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

cymbaltawithdrawal5600

cymbaltawithdrawal5600

At the bottom of every page on this site is a link to the Site Guidelines. Cussin' is in there:

"You agree that you will not post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law, on this site."

The filter sometimes falls asleep but that is no excuse. Language can have a bit of 'color', I sometimes use asterisks deliberately or some other cleaner phrase for a cuss word. But don't try to evade the filter by using spaces or other tactics. And the use of alternate spellings for the 'f word' to me is just plain tacky. People in wd are often very sensitive and words like that can be very jarring. Even the misspelled ones.

(It is interesting how the elements on a web page are totally ignored if they are in a pale, muted font color. Like we never focus on the 'wallpaper' anymore.)

You get warned well in advance before you are banned. Unless you do one of the biggies above.

And here, a site search brought up a 'venting thread'. We here at SA aim to please. Your cussing can go there. I hope the filter is awake if you do.

Edited January 3, 2015 by cymbaltawithdrawal5600added link to 'venting thread'

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

UnfoldingSky

UnfoldingSky

I just posted something then wondered if it was okay if I did it. Forgive me for bothering you all, brain isn't keeping up with what I am doing.

I just put up a link to a site where many books are uploaded (and the authors paid for this; not illegal uploads) where there's a free month trial period, then it costs per month (I don't know how it works, I *think* though that you can use the month trial and not sign up. )

I don't work for this company, and they do pay the authors, it's bascially like a digital library..Just put it up as they had a book btdt mentioned and she said she didn't have the $ for it.

Is that violating any rules?

I tried to remove it in case it was but my edit time had elapsed.

Sorry again, the post is in the Chronic Fatigue thread if you need to look at it.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

mammaP

mammaP

This site is here to provide support and advice to people suffering from withdrawal or tapering psychotropic drugs. It is very structured and that is so that people who view the site can find information on the subjects relating to withdrawal and tapering. The introductions forum is there for members to log their progress and also as case studies for medical and psychiatric professionals to see the affects that the drugs have on people. There are rules in place that have been set to keep the site informative and professional. Respect for those rules is all that Admin ask of members.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Lilu

Lilu

- Insisting on nonsense about the causes of so-called psychiatric disorders and withdrawal syndrome. You'll need to do a lot of reading and credible citations to come up with original plausible theories.

Red flags for nonsense often found in pop psychiatry:

Reliance on the "chemical imbalance" theory or that mental disorders are due to some kind of neurotransmitter deficiency.

Assigning specific functions to specific neurotransmitters ("dopamine is responsible for pleasure"). All neurotransmitters are multifunction; normal functioning depends on their all operating together.

Making sweeping generalizations about "depression." One huge problem in psychiatry research is that there is no one definition of "depression" and studies use different measures for it.

Publication in biological psychiatry journals.

More to come, I'm sure.

The "chemical imbalance" or "serotonin deficiency" theories for mood disorders, which were in vogue for about 20 years, have been disavowed by medicine. There never was any basis for this. If a doctor tells you that is the reason for your distress, the doctor is wrong, misinformed, or not being straightforward with you.

This is also true of alternative or "natural" practitioners. The "chemical imbalance" theory is invalid wherever it pops up.

The "chemical imbalance" theory or its variants does not bear discussing any more than does a theory that says the sun revolves around the earth. It is a waste of time. This site will not add to the dissemination of this misinformation. Expect credulous discussion of such to be discouraged on this site.

I don't think it's fair that talking about chemical imbalance or biological causes of mental illness should get a person warning points or banned. The majority of people out there, including mental health professionals still believe that a "chemical imbalance" in the brain is responsible for mental illness. This concept is still alive and well embedded in our culture. There are still tons of commercials on TV for antidepressants that allude to neurotransmitter imbalances. So while you say that the chemical imbalance theory was popular 20 years ago, to me it still seems quite popular and prevalent.

Maybe well inside the industry doctors or researchers know that this theory never had any scientific evidence, but most people don't know this at all. The average person wouldn't know or understand what you have against biopsychiatry or brain scans. I certainly know very little on this topic. I would lean towards believing brain scans, because there's so much talk of them in the media. Doctors such as Dr. Amen have PBS shows and TED talks about brain scans as the definitive scientific tool.

What I'm saying is, that most of us don't know that the stuff you consider "nonsense" is nonsense, especially since there are tons of articles, lectures, books, etc. by doctors who tell us otherwise. I think this is a very important topic and maybe should be pinned for all newcomers to see and understand why you believe and what evidence exists (or doesn't exist) that the above is nonsense.

I read a lot, and I still don't have a complete understanding as to why people who are anti-psychiatry recognize mental illnesses as illnesses at all.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

scallywag

scallywag

The key word in the text you've quoted is "Insisting." Just mentioning the theory doesn't result in a warning point. Such a post is likely to get a reply with a gentle comment that the hypothesis was based on weak evidence and has long been discredited.

Being insistent about the truth of the theory and/or arguing with moderators about the validity of the theory and/or similar comments are behaviours that prompt warning and banning.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Lilu

Lilu

Alto, I respect you a lot. I respect and promote this site everywhere I can. Honestly. But I run into so much opposition, and feel helpless to change people's ignorance on the subject. The only reason why I said what I said above, is because of my question here:

We discourage such "debate" here because it's a waste of time. You're right, many people believe in the "chemical imbalance" theory. There is no reason to fight that war over and over on this site. It's an unnecessary burden for the moderators.

If a person has to believe in the "chemical imbalance" theory, that person can go elsewhere.

Link to post

Share on other sites

Altostrata

Altostrata

- Being uncooperative, specifically, not keeping notes and reporting your symptom pattern when requested to do so.

Keeping daily notes of your symptoms, when you take your drugs, and their dosages is quite simple. In many situations, particularly when you're taking multiple drugs, we need this information to tell if a drug is causing an adverse reaction or if an adjustment is working.

If, after requested, you avoid doing this, we can't help you. If you persist in withholding this essential information, you may receive more than one warning point, up to being banned from the site (4 warning points).

- Taking over someone's Introductions topic to make it about your concerns

To get support from staff here, we ask each member to open an Introductions topic to discuss their specific situation. They owner of the Introductions topic is encouraged to post questions there, get answers and support from staff and other members, and look back on the Intro topic as a record of their progress. It is like an ongoing, first-person case history.

It's one thing to emphathize with any member here and share your experiences and opinions, but it's another thing to take over someone's Intro topic and make it All About You. This is selfish and disrespectful to the owner of the topic. It also can obscure the owner's need for information and support.

If you do this persistently, you may earn a warning point. Post about your concerns in your own Introductions topic.

Also updated

- Drug shopping or recommending drugs
This is a site for going off drugs. It is not a site for finding out what drug to take next, comparing drug cocktails, or recommending what drug to add. This could be dangerous. People could be hurt by your advice.

(We do not know of any drugs or drug combination that will fix withdrawal syndrome. Reinstatement of the original drug, often at a low dose, sometimes helps and sometimes does not.)

If you feel you must tell a member to seek help from a physician, please specify the physician. Most likely, the member has joined this site because of lack of success finding a knowledgeable doctor.

If you believe taking psychiatric drugs will help a particular member, please specify drug and dosage. Take responsibility for your advice. If you cannot do this, don't tell people to take more drugs. They don't know what to take and neither do their doctors. I and the staff here on SurvivingAntidepressants.org don't know, either.

For the safety of our members, we cannot permit people to give irresponsible drug advice on this site. If you get a warning for this, please take it to heart.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Earthworm

Earthworm

@Altostrata I read the rules, and I'm wondering if you are saying that mental disorders don't exist. Or are you saying there are no physiological causes of mental disorders? Or are you saying that mental disorders are real but their causes are unknown and its pointless to try and guess or have discussions?

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Altostrata

Altostrata

We don't entertain discussion of the "chemical imbalance" theory because it's a crock and a waste of time to repeatedly debunk it. It's like a flat Earth theory. If you would like to discuss this superstition, please do it elsewhere.

Can't deny that stuff does happen in people's heads, that would be mental, correct? Whether it's normal or a disorder is a judgment call. For the most part, we do not make such judgments. In terms of going off drugs, psychiatric diagnoses, which are often wrong anyway, are not very meaningful. If you're willing to take responsibility for whatever symptoms you might experience off drugs, we'll support you going off. If you don't want to go off, or only partly reduce your drugs, we'll support that, too.

If you want to think of yourself as mentally ill or having a mental disorder, that's your own choice, we don't diagnose. We do not provide treatment or support for "mental illness" beyond recommending self-help techniques and, on occasion, urging people who appear to be in intense distress to seek face-to-face help from a psychotherapist or other helping professional. We do this because, as an Internet community, we cannot provide immediate close personal attention ourselves.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

potions

potions

Thank you altostrata. You explained that well and I agree that the chemical imbalance theory is an outdated theory that, once SSRIs are banned, will become as void as the humeral theory was back in olden times (balances of black bile, yellow bile etc cause different "temperaments" within people). Also, the term "mental illness" only recently came into use when people started "treating" people who have similar clusters of "symptoms" (or personality treats, temperaments) with drugs. So we can call it whatever we want but I personally don't see how there could be an "illness" within someone, despite how much emotional pain they may be in or if they are hearing voices etc, if it doesn't kill people and isn't spread by a virus, bacteria, or parasite and canNOT be treated by medicine. Talk and cognitive behavioral therapy have been shown to help people and actually change the brains of people who are "mentally ill." So with the exception of schizophrenics (those who are schizophrenic NOT from the usage of other medications as some psychiatric drugs can cause those symptoms in people), I'd say mental/emotional problems (not going to call them illnesses) can be treated/helped by therapy with the exception of some severe genetic differences in people who hear voices etc. But antipsychotics also damage the brain significantly so I would rather die than take one of those even if I was hearing voices (which can be spurred on by stressful life events, lack of sleep etc.). I am not a doctor nor am I a mental health professional. These are my opinions.